Neil Gaiman: American Gods

I was overdue for a second reading of American Gods, and I loved this revisiting as much now as the first time, years ago.

One of my favorite aspects of this novel is that the Land itself is the god in America; everyone else is an immigrant. 

Libraries are About Freedom

Thank you, Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell, for your beautiful article-in-pictures in the Guardian in defense of libraries and of librarians. 

Week 18

Neil has a post about a politician is telling people that charging a market wage for their services is stealing." Overall, I love this entry. Way to go, Neil. I really do like his journal, which I unfortunately didn't read lately, and so missed the opportunity to donate to RAINN in April, and missed the chance to get an autographed copy of the Neverwhere poster. All this is to say that Neil is a pretty cool guy, doing pretty cool things even when he isn't writing pretty cool books. I confess that I was worried, back when I first got a crush on his intellect in the early 90's, that he would turn out to be a self-centered, sub-adult prat. Glad to know my fears were unfounded.

In case you missed it, as I did, Neil has a lovely poem from 2000 up.

The weather is decidedly springish: cool, at times rainy, but sunshiny and welcoming enough that we all want to go outside, and frequently make up excuses to do so, even if it's just to hop out on the porch for a few minutes to check the mailbox.

The sewing machine arrived.And the cart to put it on, and the dress form, too. When the UPS guy delivered it all, he asked, "Who's the seamstress?" Well, calling myself a seamstress is a bit of a stretch, but we all have to have goals, right? We are heading to Floyd this weekend to visit the fabric store. I have a skirt in mind; Graeme wants a custom ghi, and Ethan is designing "an awesome dice bag." (Frankly, I have no idea what this last bit entails, but I'm completely intrigued and hope I'm up to the challenge it might present.)

Vivian is back on a schedule once again. The boys are as well, and we have set about establishing some house rules. This sounds a lot less exciting than it is, and has actually turned out to be a fantastic conversation. The results are pretty stellar, too. Kat has been a huge part of both the schedule and the conversation, and I am more convinced than ever that she is actually Mary Poppins in steampunk disguise.

In really big news, I can zip my pre-pregnancy pants and skirts again at long last. Ten weeks later, I have clothes once again. All this brings me to my quote of the week: “Cultivate your curves—they may be dangerous but they won’t be avoided.” ― Mae West